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Laloo warns his MLAs not to quit the party

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement on October 1 that central intervention in Bihar cannot be ruled out as yet has forced Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to take measures to prevent any split in his party.

Senior officials of the RJD's Bihar unit told Rediff On The NeT today that Yadav had issued a stern warning to all his legislators "not to give in to temptation".

The prime minister, much to the dismay of the Opposition, has let it be known that he believes the law-and-order situation in Bihar is near collapse and the issue of central rule is, therefore, very much alive.

Some RJD legislators, who have been kept out of the Rabri Devi government, gave indications of breaking away from the party following the statement of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Bihar unit leader Sushil Kumar Modi that the BJP-Samata Party alliance is exploring the possibility of an "alternative government".

RJD officials said the legislators had been warned by Laloo Yadav not to pay any heed to the baits being proffered by the BJP-Samata combine. He is understood to have warned the errant legislators that their political careers would be over the moment he came to know they were planning to leave the party.

Samata Party leader Digvijay Singh, who had recently expressed his disenchantment with the hesitation of the BJP-led coalition to impose central rule in Bihar, was said to be in touch with some RJD legislators. This has triggered speculation that the BJP-Samata combine is engaged in an attempt to break the RJD through promises of berths in the proposed alternative government.

But RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh reacted angrily to the suggestion that his party's legislators might be contemplating switching loyalties for the sake of ministerial berths. "Kaun mai ka lal RJD mein himmat karega ki who party chhod ke kisi aur party mein jaye?" he thundered. "Raton raat uska political career chaupat ho jayega. (Who dares leave the RJD for some other party? His political career will end overnight.)

But despite Singh's bravado, there are indications that Laloo Yadav and his senior colleagues are perturbed by Vajpayee's latest reference to Bihar.

A parallel development seems to be the renewed enthusiasm in the BJP-Samata Party combine. The leaders of this combine have begun sending further documentary proof of the alleged lawlessness in the state. Among such material are videocassettes purporting to show RJD workers with party flags and banners dismantling railway tracks, attacking shops and showrooms, and burning vehicles parked on the roads.

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